Nancy Wilson was only 23 years old when this superb album was recorded, yet her soulful, distinctive alto voice sounds as seasoned and sensitive to nuance as a singer twice her age. Overshadowed by the simultaneous release of The Swingin’s Mutual (one of Wilson’s most popular jazz recordings), and overlooked in her subsequent move to the pop and R&B markets, Something Wonderful is a quintessential slice of Wilson’s early–and arguably most significant–work. There is a laid-back, subtle swing to the orchestral work here (courtesy of celebrated big-band arranger Billy May), and Wilson’s readings of the tunes are never overpowered by bombastic playing. Even better is the inclusion of several small-ensemble cuts–like the gently grooving “I Wish You Love,” and the heartbreaking story-song “Guess Who I Saw Today”–which feature Ben Webster on tenor and Jack Marshall on guitar. Through all of this, of course, Wilson’s charming, seemingly off-handed delivery and blues-steeped timbre make each tune float and shimmy with grace. (cduniverse)

Tracklist

01. Teach Me Tonight
02. This Time The Dream’s On Me
03. I’m Gonna Laugh You Right Out My Life
04. I Wish You Love
05. Guess Who I Saw Today
06. If Dreams Come True
07. What A Little Moonlight Can Do
08. The Great City
09. He’s My Guy
10. Something Happens To Me
11. (They Call It) Stormy Monday
12. Something Wonderful Happens

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By the time of this fourth Blue Note album by trumpeter Donald Byrd, it became clear that his playing was becoming stronger with the passing of time. This album features separate studio sessions from January and July of 1960 with constants Duke Pearson on piano and drummer Lex Humphries. Bassists Doug Watkins and Reggie Workman split duties six tracks to three, as do tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley and alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, making for some interesting sonic combinations, although Byrd is the dominant voice. Several of these selections are penned by Byrd, but it is pianist Pearson who contributes four of the most potent compositions on Byrd in Flight, supplying the wings for these quintet recordings to take off with.

Personnel: Donald Byrd (trumpet); Jackie McLean (alto saxophone); Hank Mobley (tenor saxophone); Duke Pearson (piano); Reggie Workman, Doug Watkins (bass); Lex Humphries (drums).

Tracklist

01. Ghana
02. Little Boy Blue
03. Gate city
04. Lex
05. Bo
06. My Girl Shirl
07. Child’s Play
08. Carol
09. Soulful Kiddy

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Sonny Red, a fine altoist inspired by Charlie Parker and Jackie McLean, never really made it in jazz, and some of his recordings are rather uninspired. However, that does not hold true for his Blue Note album, which has been reissued on this 1996 CD along with five previously unissued selections. Red, who is joined by pianist Wynton Kelly, either Sam Jones or Paul Chambers on bass, and either Roy Brooks or Jimmy Cobb on drums, never sounded better on records. He performs mostly little-known standards (along with six of his originals) and displays a fair amount of originality and a great deal of potential that was never really fulfilled. Recommended. (allmusic)

Personnel: Sonny Red (alto saxophone); Paul Chambers (bass); Sam Jones (bass); Jimmy Cobb (drums); Roy Brooks (drums); Wynton Kelly (piano).

Tracklist

01. Bluesville
02. Stay As Sweet As You Are
03. I’ve Been In Love Before
04. Nadia
05. Blues In The Pocket
06. Alone Too Long
07. The Lope
08. Stairway To The Stars
09. Crystal
10. Lost April
11. You’re Sensational
12. Blues For Kokee
13. You’re Driving Me Crazy

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Back to the Tracks is an album by hard-bop tenor Tina Brooks recorded in 1960 and released posthumously. The tracks first appeared on a Mosaic 12″ LP (MR4-106) entitled The Complete Blue Note Recordings of The Tina Brooks Quintets. The album was originally intended as BLP 4052, but, for some reason, it was shelved at the time. Only on January 27, 1998, Rudy Van Gelder decided to release the session in its entirety on a remastered Blue Note CD (purple cover, Blue Note 21737), then reissued in 2006 (green cover, BST 84052). Both editions are now out-of-print. A song recorded during the session, “David the King”, was rejected since it “never made it to releasable quality”. Said piece, however, made it to Brooks’ final recording for Blue Note, The Waiting Game.

Personnel: Tina Brooks (tenor saxophones); Kenny Drew (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Art Taylor (drums); Blue Mitchell (trumpet); Jackie MCLean (alto saxophone).

Tracklist

01. Back To The Tracks
02. Street Singer
03. The Blues and I
04. For Heaven’s Sake
05. The Ruby And The Pearl

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Unlike most of the Jimmy Smith recordings from the era, this CD reissue (which adds “If I Should Lose You” and “When Lights Are Low” to the original LP program) features organist Jimmy Smith’s regular group (rather than an all-star band). With guitarist Quentin Warren and drummer Donald Bailey completing the trio, Smith is heard in peak form on swinging and soulful versions of such tunes as “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” “Makin’ Whoopee,” “Sonnymoon for Two,” and “Mack the Knife.” Despite claims and some strong challenges by others, there has never been a jazz organist on the level of Jimmy Smith.

Personnel: Jimmy Smith (organ); Quentin Warren (guitar); Donald Bailey (drums).

Tracklist

01. When Johnny Comes Marching Home
02. Makin’ Whoopee
03. A Night In Tunisia
04. Sonnymoon For Two
05. Mack The Knife
06. What’s New
07. Alfredo
08. If I Should Lose You
09. When Lights Are Low

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With a strong, smooth tone and an amazing flow of fresh ideas every time he soloed, tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks should have been a major jazz artist, but his legacy is confined to a series of dates that he did for Blue Note as a sideman and leader. “True Blue” is the only album under his own name to come out in his lifetime. He and Freddie Hubbard had recorded Hubbard’s “Open Sesame” a week earlier. Based on these two albums alone, Brooks should have been recognized as an important new voice in jazz. This CD adds to two alternate takes to the original LP.

Personnel: Tina Brooks (tenor saxophone); Tina Brooks; Sam Jones (double bass); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Duke Jordan (piano); Art Taylor (drums).

Tracklist

01. Good Old Soul
02. Up Tight’s Creek
03. Theme For Doris
04. True Blue
05. Miss Hazel
06. Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You
07. True Blue (Alternate Take)
08. Good Old Soul (Alternate Take)

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The Three Sounds open their signature sound a bit on the romantic Moods. They retain the same light touch that made their early albums so enjoyable, but they add more textures to the mix. Light Latin rhythms permeate Moods, from the inventive reworking of Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale” to Harris’ original “Tammy’s Breeze.” Like its predecessor, Feelin’ Good, this record has a bluesy, soulful streak to its personality, as evidenced by the mellow take on “On Green Dolphin Street,” the hep swing of “Loose Walk,” and the infectious cover of Ellington’s “I’m Beginning to See the Light.” Occasionally, the Three Sounds play it a little too cool — while the slow, relaxed “Things Ain’t What They Used to Be” manages to be engaging, “Li’l Darlin’” slows down to a crawl — but on the whole, Moods is an endearing collection of appealing mainstream jazz.

Tracklist

01. Love For Sale
02. Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
03. On Green Dolphin Street
04. Loose Walk
05. Li’l Darlin’
06. I’m Beginning To See The Light
07. Tammy’s Breeze
08. Sandu

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John Coltrane’s work on Atlantic Records marked both his ascent as a leader and the refinement of his trademarked “sheets of sound” improvisational style. This 1961 release features Trane with a variety of celebrated bandmates: pianists Sonny Rollins, Wynton Kelly, and McCoy Tyner, bassists Steve Davis and Paul Chambers, and drummers Lex Humphries, Jimmy Cobb, and Elvin Jones. Stylistically, Trane spans some diverse musical territory. There’s his down-home and hypnotic takes on the blues, “Village Blues” and the Thelonius Monk-like “Harmonique.” Coltrane and his crew poetically and rhythmically remake the standard “My Shining Hour,” and “Like Sonny,” a shout-out to Sonny Rollins, is a dancing Afro-Latin excursion. This date offers a preview of the important music that Coltrane, Tyner, and Jones would unleash in a few years before the saxophonist’s death in 1967.

Personnel: John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Wynton Kelly, McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton (piano); Paul Chambers, Steve Davis (bass); Jimmy Cobb, Lex Humphries, Elvin Jones (drums).

Tracklist

01. Little Old Lad
02. Village Bluesy
03. My Shining Hour
04. Fifth House
05. Harmonique
06. Like Sonny
07. I’ll Wait And Pray
08. Some Other Blues
09. Like Sonny (Alternate Take)
10. I’ll Wait And Pray (Alternate Take)
11. Like Sonny (Alternate Take 5)
12. Village Blues (Alternate Take)

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Stanley Turrentine & the Three Sounds were initially featured together on an album called Blue Hour, which was a very relaxed and bluesy release. The spaciousness of “I Want a Little Girl” makes the listener savor every note, while “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good to You” is played with an almost identical tempo and feeling. Gene Harris’ “Blue Riff” picks up the pace a good bit, before “Since I Fell for You” and “Willow Weep for Me” once again slow the proceedings back to a late-night feeling. Turrentine’s tenor sax is in top form, while Harris is the consummate blues pianist in his supporting role. After the first CD reissue of Blue Hour went out of print, it was expanded into a two-CD set by Blue Note, with eight new unissued or alternate takes added on the second disc. It is apparent right away that the original producer Alfred Lion was correct in withholding most of these recordings from release. As well as Turrentine plays during “Blues in the Closet,” the rhythm section seems a bit stiff. Harris’ piano is too much in the background on “Just in Time,” while the pianist’s composition “Blue Hour” doesn’t seem to be fully formed as a blues vehicle. “Strike Up the Band” is the one truly up-tempo recording present on this release, but probably wasn’t issued previously because it is faded prematurely and it was so different from the producer’s concept for the originally conceived release. Regardless, since both Stanley Turrentine and Gene Harris passed away within a year of each other in 2000, having additional music made available featuring these two fine musicians is most welcome.

Personnel: Stanley Turrentine (tenor saxophone); Gene Harris (piano); Andrew Simpkins (bass); Bill Dowdy (drums).

Tracklist

CD1
01. I Want a Little Girl
02. Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You
03. Blue Riff
04. Since I Fell For You
05. Willow Weep For Me
CD2
01. Blues In The Closet
02. Just In Time
03. Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You
04. Where or When
05. Blue Hour
06. There Is No Greater Love
07. Alone Together
08. Strike Up The Band

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The complete original album Far Cry (Prestige/New Jazz 8270), featuring Eric Dolphy in a quintet format with another star who passed away before his time, trumpeter Booker Little. Among the many highlights are an outstanding version of the Billie Holiday-Mal Waldron ballad “Left Alone” and Dolphy’s unaccompanied alto sax reading of “Tenderly”. As a bonus, two tunes originally issued under the name the Jazz Artists Guild, both of which were recorded on the same date on November 1, 1960, and each featuring one of the stars of Far Cry: Dolphy on “T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do”, and Little on “Cliff Walk”.

Personnel: Eric Dolphy (alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet); Booker Little (trumpet); Jaki Byard (piano); Ron Carter (bass); Roy Haynes (drums).

Tracklist

01. Mrs. Parker Of K.C. (Bird’s Mother)
02. Ode To Charlie Parker
03. Far Cry
04. Miss Ann
05. Left Alone
06. Tenderly
07. It’s Magic
08. Serene

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